Week 15

This time last year, Somali pirates dominated headlines in the U.S. The hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, a tanker captained by an American, led to a made-for-Hollywood intervention by sharp-shooting marines and triggered a media frenzy about the rise of piracy off the Horn of Africa. In the months that followed, a U.S. and E.U.-led naval task force stepped up patrols around Somalia's coastline and lessened the threat posed by pirates there. This year there were only 17 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and waters surrounding Somalia between January and March — a peak time for piracy in the region because of a favorable weather conditions — compared to over 40 in that same period in 2009.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1984473,00.html?hpt=T2

Despite the vigil of many of the world's powerful navies, it's clear that the pirates' reach seems to be widening, with the majority of recent successful attacks taking place closer to the Indian Ocean archipelagos of the Maldives and the Seychelles than Somalia. Currently, 15 vessels and 326 sailors are being held by Somali pirates — similar numbers to this time last year. Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre based in Kuala Lumpur, says his organization has been receiving frantic calls from shipowners asking what Indian Ocean routes are actually safe. "It's difficult to know what to tell them," he says. "The pirates have been popping up almost everywhere." How can we stop them?